Night Of The Hunter

Bittersweet Confessions

34.

A shower never felt so good.

I let the pipping hot water steam up the bathroom before jumping in. As soon as the stream hit my back and neck, I practically melted. It's been three days, that I could remember, since I last took a shower. I felt like a dirt bag just thinking about it. Rolling my head from side to side, I closed my eyes and let my hands rest on the tiled wall in front of me, letting the water cascade on me.

I don't know how long I was in there, but after I finally scrubbed my body and washed my hair, I put on the silk robe that hung from the back of the door. Fancy, if you ask me. I wiped the fog off the mirror with my hand and dried my long locks. I could swear my hair got darker, but it could just be from the wetness.

There was an extra toothbrush on the counter, a red one. Seeing it was my favorite color, I figured it was meant for me, as the blue one was probably for Aiden. I took my chances on the red one. 

Stepping back into the bedroom area, I felt almost like me again. I sat on the couch where my duffel bag laid. I bit my lower lip staring at it, wondering how it was even here. I left it in the car before Markus came. He knocked me out completely and had to put me in a van. I remember a van. So what happened to the car? What happened to Eric? 

I leaned over and opened the bag, seeing all my clothes still folded as well as my handgun that laid on top. With the questions still brewing in my mind, I grabbed some clean clothes to throw on and began to get dressed. When I pulled a pair of jeans up my waist, the front door opened. I heard his footsteps and then a bag dropping on the table inside.

"Oh honey, I'm home." He sing-songed.

I rolled my eyes and continued to get dressed, pulling my hair in a messy bun and hung up the robe on the back of the bathroom door.

When I walked into the living room, I watched as he began to take out the meals he got as he sat on the couch. His blue hues glanced up at me for a moment before flickering back down to the bag.

"Oh good, you don't smell like a toilet anymore."

I flipped him off with my middle finger and sat down on the chair opposite him, across the table where he already set up my food. Chinese.

"Finding a place that wasn't a sit down restaurant in a two block radius was a bitch. I was about to just come back and order room service but saw this." He explained with a shrug of a shoulder and slid over a can of sprite.

"This is fine." I said softly, opening the lid of the plastic container and grabbed a plastic fork and dug into my lo-mein. The first bite was wonderful, just a taste test to start off with before I began to dig in like a cow. It feels like I hadn't eaten anything in days. Oh wait.. I haven't.

"How you feeling?" He asked.

I felt his eyes on me, watching me intently. As if he was studying me. 

"I'd be better if you'd quit looking at me like that." I glanced up at him before taking a sip of my soda to wash down my giant mouthful.

"Sorry, I'm just worried about you."

"I'm fine." I put the soda down and dug into my food again.

"You're not fine, Arabella. You died."

"And then I came back." A noodle fell off my fork and fell onto my lap. I glanced up to see his eyes had never left my face. I picked up the noodle and stuck it in my mouth with a raised brow. "I feel calm."

"Calm?"

I nodded. "It's weird. Never felt so calm.. relaxed before." I leaned back in the chair and looked down at my hands before making fists. "But I could feel my veins burning."